LHU men win in overtime

December 3, 2012

LOCK HAVEN Two days, two overtime games and a good win on the heels of a frustrating loss to cap the weekend. That was the picture painted by the Lock Haven University men's basketball team as the Bald Eagles defeated Shippensburg in a thriller Sunday afternoon at Thomas Field House.

Maybe it was having to play two games in 24 hours or maybe it was just a hoop hangover from the tough overtime loss the day before.

Whatever the reason was, the Bald Eagles reached down deep enough to battle back for a tie in regulation to force the extra period before outscoring Shippensburg 21-14 in the extra period for the 94-87 win.

"I think part of our slow start might be that most of the guys aren't used to playing back-to-back games in two days," said LHU head coach Mike Nestor. "Part of the reason might be that my rotations (of players) isn't right where it needs to be yet. I have some guys playing way too many minutes overall. But believe me I was a little worried about the sluggish start to the game."

In the OT loss to Millersville, Wali Hepburn led all scorers with 30 points. So what did he do for an encore? He promptly went out 24 hours later and scored 40 in the win over the Red Raiders.

"I just try to make plays and if the shot is there, I take it," said Hepburn. "Most of the time I'll do what the defense gives me. If they step up on me I make the extra pass and if not, I just split their attack."

Like Nestor, Hepburn felt that someone had to step up to increase the tempo of the Bald Eagle attack.

"At first we were like, dead," said Hepburn. "The coach just kept telling us that we had to pick it up. After a while, we started seeing that the game was still close so we just had to reach down and give everything we had inside of us. When we picked up the tempo it made it easy for us to feed off each other."

Still down by five with time running out in regulation, the Eagles tied the score at 73-all on a conventional three-point play by Hepburn and a field goal by Terrell Johnson with 25 seconds left.

Ship had one final chance to pull the game out in regulation, but it didn't happen.

In the overtime, the Bald Eagles began the period by ripping off eight unanswered points on a field goal by Armandi Marshall, a trey by Johnson and a conventional three-point play by Elijah Cooper.

From that point on, it was the free throw shooting that led LHU to wrapping up the win as they made 11-of-16 to hold the Raiders at bay and preserve the win.